


Bookshops and Babies

by JaskiersWolf



Series: Misc Witcher Ship Prompts [1]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Baby Pavetta (The Witcher), Enemies to Lovers, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29786622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaskiersWolf/pseuds/JaskiersWolf
Summary: Prompt: Calanthe/Eist - Enemies to Lovers, Bookstore AU.
Relationships: Calanthe Fiona Riannon/Eist Tuirseach
Series: Misc Witcher Ship Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189445
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Bookshops and Babies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OhNoMyBreadsticks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhNoMyBreadsticks/gifts).



Calanthe was absolutely fuming. It didn’t help that she’d had a shit year so far, divorcing her husband shortly after the birth of their daughter, Pavetta, but now some self-righteous arsehole had decided to buy the coffeeshop next door and turn it into some kind of bookshop/coffeeshop combination. He was stealing her customers, with his easy personality and charming smile. She had to admit that adding the reading corner to the back of the coffeeshop had been a bloody brilliant idea, but it was completely disrespectful to her business. She had half a mind to add a coffee stand to the front of her shop, perhaps a little aquarium and some sofas near the back.

A smirk appeared slowly on her lips.

That was exactly what she was going to do. If he wanted to become a bookstore then she would have to adapt. She’d spent years as a barista whilst studying at University, so she could make damn good coffee. Maybe she could buy in a selection of herbal teas as well.

She turned from the window and stalked back into the office of her shop, where her daughter was babbling happily her cot. Calanthe smiled fondly down at Pavetta before scooping her up into her arms. Her husband had told her she wouldn’t be able to raise a daughter and run a business at the same time.

He’d been wrong.

Calanthe could do anything that she put her mind to.

* * *

  
Eist wasn’t sure how the rivalry with the store next door had started but he’d popped by one day to check out their book selection, hoping to make some purchases for his reading corner. The woman behind the till had practically murdered him with her gaze; pure hatred radiating from her direction, and he was entranced.

She was gorgeous, her fierce glare only serving to entice him further. He’d always been a little weak for powerful women, and she was no exception. He’d smiled warmly at her and held out his hand.

“Hi there, I’m Eist. I just moved in next door,” he’d said but she’d snubbed him and asked if he wanted to buy anything without offering her name.

And so it continued.

The next time he visited she had a coffee machine at the front and several customers near the back sipping at their paper cups. Her hair was falling out of the bun at the back of her head as she took a long drink from her own mug, never breaking eye contact with him. He couldn’t look away, he winked and turned right back out of the shop.

Which was why he was now covered in sawdust as he tried to build a cat climbing jungle around the walls of the reading corner. He’d struck up a deal with a local shelter so he could foster older cats for coffee shop. He’d always loved cats, his own gorgeous ginger cat was called Simba and was already quite at home amongst the beanbags.

“Would you keep it down in here, Eist?” She called as she stormed into the shop. “My customers are trying to read and no-one can think over all this racket! What the hell is that?”

“Would you believe me if I said shelving, my lady?” he asked, enjoying the blush on her cheeks. She was completely adorable when she got angry. He had no doubt that she could probably kill him in his sleep but it was still adorable, and he was completely smitten.

“Don’t call me that,” she seethed.

“Well if you told me your name…” he raised an eyebrow at her and ran a hand through his hair, knocking sawdust into his face. He wrinkled his nose and then sneezed.

“Bless you,” she muttered, crossing her hands in front of her chest. “Calanthe.”

“What?”

“My name, Eist, don’t wear it out,” she snapped but for the first time there was something else in her expression, mirth perhaps, a faint smile on her lips.

“Calanthe,” he repeated quietly as she left, and deep down he knew, he just knew, that one day he would marry her.

* * *

Pavetta was crying up a storm, and nothing Calanthe could do would calm her down. She was tearing her hair out. She had a queue at the coffee stand and two more customers wanting her assistance to find books but her daughter just wouldn’t stop crying. She was on the edge of screaming herself when there was a knock on her office door. She cursed and shifted Pavetta onto her other hip as she went to grab the door.

“Eist,” she hissed “I’m a little busy.”

He nodded, looking genuinely sympathetic. “I know, my lady, one of my customers was talking about the terrible service and a crying baby? Is this her?”

Calanthe scoffed. “No, there’s another screaming baby. Of course it’s her. My daughter, Pavetta.”

“Let me help,” he pleaded, lovely warm eyes that settled the panic that was rising up in her chest. “You stay here with your daughter, I’ll help out front.”

Calanthe snorted “And why would you help me?”

“Because I want to help, nothing more, nothing less. I shut my store for lunch, please, Calanthe, you don’t have to do this alone.”

Calanthe looked between Eist and her daughter and then nodded, passing him her till key. “Thank you.”

It didn’t take Pavetta long to calm down after that and by the time Calanthe escaped the office Eist had the bookstore under control and running smoothly. Calanthe leant on the door frame and watched him for a few moments. He was a natural at running a store, and her customers seemed to adore him, which should have bothered her. At this point their two stores were practically identical. They were clear rivals and it wouldn’t take much for Eist to draw away all her business but she found strangely grounded watching him amble through her shop with ease and confidence.

The daft idiot had broken down her guards without her even realising. She scoffed and strutted over to him. “Eist!” She called.

The smile he gave her in return lit up the whole goddamn room. “My lady.”

“You can go now,” she dismissed him with a wave of her hand, feeling a flutter of nerves in his stomach. “but I believe I owe you lunch.” Her voice was steadier than she’d hoped for, perhaps too much. She mentally berated herself. There was no chance in hell that he would hear the real question behind her words.

“Make it dinner and I’ll consider us even,” he shot back with a wink.

“Oh you smooth bastard,” she laughed, allowing herself a small smile. “Go on then, dinner it is, and perhaps we could discuss the future of our stores. There’s no point in fighting like this, we’ll both go out of business if we keep this up, and my shop means too much to me.”

“An alliance?”

She smirked and nodded. “Something like that.”

“Something like that,” he agreed, taking her hand a brushing a kiss to her knuckles.


End file.
